Order Birth Certificates

WHERE TO ORDER BIRTH CERTIFICATES

U.S. BIRTH CERTIFICATES, STATE BY STATE.

Near the end, you’ll find some information about other countries. Thanks to the late Lois Rodden and AstroDataBank for many of the following pointers. Also, see Edna Rowland’s book, How To Obtain Your Birth Certificate, published in 1990 by the American Federation of Astrologers.

ABOUT U.S. RECORDS:
In 1968, the U.S. Dept. of Health, Education & Welfare passed a law that the birth time must be on the birth certificate, but this law isn’t always followed. Before 1968, sometimes state agencies have a record of the birth time, even if it’s not on the birth certificate itself, so please inquire about that possibility. Sometimes the county seat of the birthplace may have a record if the state agency doesn’t. Usually, the certificate is only available to you, not to someone asking for you, unless that someone is your legal representative.
When requesting a birth certificate, include your birth name, date and place of birth, your mother’s maiden name and your father’s name. Mention that you need it for research (if you don’t need the legal copy), and specify that you need the birth time to be on the document. If they can’t find it, the fee is usually not refundable.
It’s best to let your astrologer determine what time zone was in effect at your birth place on that date, rather than try to adjust it yourself. Astrological software has time zones programmed into it and will find the zone when the birth data’s entered.

PLEASE NOTE

In some cases, the addresses, fees and phone numbers below are several years old. If you find any updates or additions to the information below, or the information about births outside of the U.S., please email me and the page will be updated.

ALABAMA

Vital Records, PO Box 5625, Montgomery AL 36103. The fee for a search of the file is $12.00 which includes one certified copy of the search results. Additional copies of the same record, ordered at the same time, are $4.00 each. There are additional fees for expedited services. The website is www.adph.org. Go to the site and select FAST FIND and Vital Records. Tel., 334 206 5418. One astrologer reports that birth times are NOT available from AL when a birth certificate copy is ordered either online or by mail. AL gives birth times ONLY on a decorative copy of the birth certificate provided to the mother at the time of birth. Whether AL keeps a copy of the mother’s gift is unknown.

ALASKA
(Thank you to a student who graciously took the time and trouble to find this data.) Department of Health and Social Services, Bureau of Vital Statistics, P.O. Box 110675, Juneau, AK 99811-0675. Fee: $15.00. Money orders should be payable to AK Bureau of Vital Statistics. Personal checks are not accepted. Credit cards are accepted; in addition to the baseline $15.00 fee for the birth certificate, there is an extra $11.00 credit card processing fee. To verify current fees, call (907) 465-3391 for a recorded message. The State has kept birth records since January 1913. They do not have birth times from 1949 through 1968.

(Thanks to site visitors for updates.) State Department of Health Services, Office of Vital Records, 304 “S” St, P.O. Box 730241, Sacramento, CA 94244-0241. Fee, $14.00. You can get information and download a birth certificate request form from their web site .

Office of Vital Statistics, Vital Records Section, POB 210, Jacksonville, FL 32231-0042. You must order the $14.00 “photocopy certificate” to get the time of birth; the $9.00 version does not list it. Tel. 904-359-6900. Thanks to site visitors for the updates.

GEORGIA

Online Site or http://www.vitalchek.com. You may telephone VitalChek at 1-877-572-6343, seven days a week, 24 hours a day. If overnight delivery is requested, there’s an additional fee for this service. You may use the VitalChek fax service to request a record, but copies of birth certificates cannot be faxed to you. In person: Request a birth certificate at the State Vital Records Office or the County Vital Records Office in the county where the birth occurred. By US Mail, mail a request to: Vital Records, 2600 Skyland Drive NE, Atlanta, GA 30319-3640. Tel., 404-656-4900. Search fee (includes one certified copy, if the record is found), $10.00.

Bureau of Vital Statistics, Idaho Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics, PO Box 83720,Boise, ID 83720-0036. Fee, $6.00, tel. 208-334-5988. Go to the Bureau of Vital Statistics’ website to get a certificate request form and see what you need to send in with it.

ILLINOIS – IL

Dept. of Public Health, Division of Vital Records, 605 W. Jefferson St., Springfield, IL 62702. Fee, $15.00 first copy, $2.00 additionals, tel. 217-782-6553. You can also get a copy at the courthouse of the county where you were born.

INDIANA

Indiana State Department of Health, Attention: Vital Records, P. O. Box 7125, Indianapolis, IN 46206-7125. Tel. (317) 233-2700. The fee is $10.00. The street address for in-person requests is: ISDH Casual Corner Bldg., 2 North Meridian Street, Indianapolis, IN 46204. From a website visitor: “It is my understanding that it has been the law in Indiana since 1907 that the birth time be recorded on all birth certificates.” The state requires proof of identity before they send a birth certificate. The time quoted for receiving it is six weeks.

Vital Statistics, Dept. for Health Services, 275 East Main St., Frankfort, KY 40621. Fee $10.00, tel. 502-564-4212. Kentucky birth certificates can be ordered by phone, by mail or by going to the office (a one-hour wait is likely). If a credit card is used, an additional $5.50 processing fee will be added to your order. Office hours are 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Monday-Friday.

Registry of Vital Records, 150 Mount Vernon Street, Dorchester, MA 02125. Fees, $11 record sent via mail; $19 over the phone; $31 over the phone and Fed Ex’ed, tel. 617-740-2600. Before 1943, MA birth certificates did not record the time of birth. The hospitals did, in a separate record, but may not have kept it.

MICHIGAN

Thanks to site visitors for this update. Vital Records Requests *If expedited service is requested, address the request to: Vital Records RUSH, PO Box 30721, Lansing, MI 48909. Fees, $15.00 first copy and another $5.00 to rush it; for any additional copies, include another $5.00. Call 517-335-8656 for a recorded message to have an application mailed to you, or call 517-335-8666 to speak with a customer service representative if you have specific questions. MICHIGAN DID NOT RECORD BIRTH TIMES FOR THE YEARS 1950 TO 1967. It did record times on birth certificates for the years prior to 1950 and after 1967. Records can be ordered directly online using a credit card or by applications downloaded from their website.

Thanks to site visitors for this update. Bureau of Vital Records, MO Dept of Health, POB 570, Jefferson City, MO 65102, tel. (573)751-6387. Fees, $10 per copy. Copies can be ordered over the phone with a credit card for an additional processing fee of $4.95.

Vital Records Branch, Division of Health Services, 1903 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1903. Fee is $10 to receive it within four weeks, and $42.95 to receive it within five days. Tel. 919-733-3526.

Thanks to site visitors for this update. Division of Vital Statistics, P.O. Box 1528, Central Bldg., 101 South Mercer St., New Castle, PA 16103. Fee: $4.00. Phone: (724) 656-3100. Astrologer Vivian Owen has composed a page about birth time info for PA. Here’s a link that explains how birth times are recorded in Pennsylvania, along with a list of hospitals she’s collected over the years on her page, "The PA Time Project.”

Vital Records Section, Office of Vital Records and Public Health Statistics, 2600 Bull Street, Columbia, SC 29201. Fee: $5.00 first copy, $1.00 additionals. If you need to order the long form, go to the SC DHEC website at http://www.scdhec.gov/administration/vr/index.htm, and order a birth certificate by mail. Vitalcheck offers only an abbreviated birth certificate photo. The long form is $12, plus $5 if you want it rushed. Tel. (803) 734-4830.

Bureau of Vital Statistics, Texas Dept. of Health, 1100 West 49th St., Austin, TX 78756-3191. Fee: $5.00, Fax (512) 458-7451; Tel. 512.458.7111. Thanks for this information from a website visitor: “In Texas, there are two birth certificate forms / types. The short form (which gets a child into school) does NOT list the birth time. The long form DOES contain the birth time. Also, in Texas I believe you have to be either the person whose birth certificate it is, or a direct immediate family member, in order to request a birth certificate.” Each form costs $22.00. The long version has both parents’ names and birth dates and is now the only acceptable form for obtaining passports, unless you are an adult and have a current or expired passport.

The fee since July 1, 2004 is $12.00, and the website is www.vdh.virginia.gov. Live customer service representatives are available to answer questions, some of them are bilingual. Tel., 804-662-6200. Address, 1601 Willow Lawn Drive, Ste. 275, Richmond, VA 23230.

WASHINGTON STATE

Department of Health, P.O. Box 9709, Olympia, WA 98507-9709. Fee, $17.00, tel. (360) 236-4300. A site visitor reports: “They did not record birth times at the WA State Dept. of Health from 1947-1968. That was true for my birth certificate, hospital record, and County records. I am told that it is true for all of WA State.”

A lot of information about births outside of the U.S., for both US citizens and non-US citizens, can be found at VitalCheck . http://www.vitalchek.com. You can also get birth certificate information for the 50 States, the Territories, and for some foreign countries (use the International Agencies link). Start there first. Thanks to everyone who’s written in with information!
Thanks to the late Lois Rodden and AstroDataBank for when the following countries started recording birth times:
Austria, Jan 1, 1939
Belgium, 1793
France, Sep 22, 1792
Denmark, 1862
Germany, Jan 1, 1792
Frankfurt 1851
Preussen 1974
Italy, Jan 1, 1866
Kingdom Naples and Sicily, 1820
Netherlands, 1793
Scotland, 1855
Switzerland, Jan 1, 1876
Geneva Oct 22, 1798
Lausanne Jul 1, 1821
Neuchatel Mar 1, 1854

FRANCE

Go to or telephone the town hall (la mairie) of the town where you were born. Give the name and date of birth, and ask for the birth time. Sometimes they give the information by phone, and sometimes you have to write them a letter.

GREAT BRITAIN AND COLONIES

don’t record birth time on the registration unless the birth was twins (because the oldest one is the legal heir). As of 1998, there was no officially recorded birth time in Ireland, Wales, Australia, Canada or British India.

MEXICO

We hear that that the best place to get accurate birth information, if you were born there, is from the hospital where you were born. According to a site visitor, her mother said one birth time and her birth certificate said another, but the hospital records were accurate for both the visitor and her own child.

TURKEY

Contact the hospital where you were born, and / or the attending doctor, and your family. Hospitals record birth times. There is a birth certificate, but the hospital gives it and it is not registered with the government; the doctor signs it. This practice probably started within the past 20 years.
If you have any further information about obtaining information for births outside the U.S., please email me and I’ll put it on the site.